Description:
The Linear Calendar is done as a whole group activity. This is a teacher-led activity that takes the place of a typical matrix calendar activity. Children practice math concepts, counting and passage of time.
How we do it…
We use pictures of buses or backpacks to represent school days on the calendar, and pictures of houses to represent the home days. These pictures/days fall into the same pattern with 2 days home and 5 days at school. While the teacher points to each day/number the children clap while counting to help them learn one to one correspondence.
What are children learning?
*Concept of time. (order or sequence of events, before/after, yesterday/today/tomorrow, “if yesterday was 5 today is?”)
*Units of time (month, weeks, days of the week)
*Counting skills (rote and meaningful counting, numeral recognition, how many days until, how many days since)
This activity focuses on the following Executive Function skills:
Working Memory by remembering what day we are on and what is coming next; also by remembering the steps of the strategy
Self Regulation by counting and clapping out the numbers
Cognitive Flexibility by showing we can have changes in our schedule and it is okay to adjust it
